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Cancelled due to vandalism- Stamford show 18th May


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Now I wasn’t expecting this. I sent an email to Peter Davies saying how I and the other members of my local club were offering our moral support, and how shocked and distraught we were at what had happened.

 

Less than three hours later I got a reply from Peter. He sent this message:

 

Thank you Liam,

 

It is a truly traumatic time and one I’d wish on no one!

 

That’s very kind. Thank you.

 

All very best wishes,

 

Peter

 

What a kind and lovely gentleman, to personally respond to my email (amongst the thousands of others). The hobby should be honoured to have him. 

 

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1 minute ago, Wheres_Wally said:

It would be interesting to know how much 3 days worth of security cover would be. However, it's worth remembering that there are 500 shows a year and this is the first such outrage. 

To the best of my knowledge it's the first in the 56 years that I've worked for the model railway media. I think we should be wary of making knee-jerk reactions with regard to our willingness to exhibit or about security issues. Schools have security to protect their own equipment and it appears that the security in this case did work - alarms were raised and the Police came. Unfortunately a lot of damage was accomplished in a short space of time. I would expect 3 days of professional security cover would be prohibitively expensive and in any case, I doubt that premises such as schools or public halls would permit the presence of third party security firms. (CJL)

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I guess school alarm sensors were located to protect valuable parts of the school. Normally there would not be a lot of value left in the gym so it may not have had the same level of protection as elsewhere and maybe that explains why the alarm was not activated until after the police had been informed by neighbours.

 

Just my theory.

 

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School alarms tend to be very sensitve. I've heard many stories from Caretakers when they've had to rush in during the middle of the night to investigate an alarm activation only to find it's the latest addition to a classroom display wafting in a breeze. The majority of the lighting also now runs from the same alarm sensors and as a result those are in every room, be it a classroom, hall or office. In my experence all schools also have CCTV, either just covering the exterior of the building or interior too though that tends to be secondary schools only.

Edited by LNERandBR
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I have to defend the industry I spent 50 years in. All systems by now should have either double knock detectors,pulse count detectors and or duel technology. So they don't respond to the first movement, unlike the light sensor which will react to any movement,and should be isolated when the building is closed, but light will not activate a PIR or Microwave detector. 

From experiance gyms would only have magnetic door contacts if anyone all.

the biggest cause of false alarms is the locking up procedures .

The CCTV is generally designed to watch the children during the day and generally the cameras are day night cameras due to cost .

 

derek 19b

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Beginning to go around in circles now. Security has been discussed long back and maybe it is the time to just move on from this thread and offer our help independently or through a group? Don't want to spoil the discussion however it can get repetitive when folk don't read through the whole ting as it takes so long.

No offence meant.

Phil

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I hold my hands up and admit I was once so tiddly I fell asleep on a roundabout but it still makes me shake my head and wonder what entered their heads. If there is a positive from the perpetrators side it is that they are suitably ashamed,  their families have the hump and it will be an interesting/career limiting note on these kids CV

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7059229/Mother-teenage-yob-smashed-model-railway-exhibition-says-mortified.html

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My son is a senior member of staff at a secondary school. We've discussed this incident at some length, most recently yesterday evening, when he suggested that it was probably a sequence of events remarkably similar to that now described. I hope we're not now going to lapse into all sorts of hideous punishment suggestions and I suspect that the only way it will affect their CVs, is if charges are brought and a conviction results. (CJL)

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13 hours ago, Wheres_Wally said:

It would be interesting to know how much 3 days worth of security cover would be. However, it's worth remembering that there are 500 shows a year and this is the first such outrage. 

 

 

I will contact our exhibition manager on his return from holiday as to what Stafford Railway Circle pay each year for a external company suppling a security man at the exhibition both Friday and Saturday nights.

 

Eltel 

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First sentence has been carried out..

Quote

She said her son has been punished by having his games console and mobile phones confiscated and being grounded indefinitely.  

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7059229/Mother-teenage-yob-smashed-model-railway-exhibition-says-mortified.html

 

I have a feeling the next exhibition held by this club will be their most high profile and best ever show... and so it should be.

 

 

Edited by adb968008
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15 hours ago, Colin_McLeod said:

I guess school alarm sensors were located to protect valuable parts of the school. Normally there would not be a lot of value left in the gym so it may not have had the same level of protection as elsewhere and maybe that explains why the alarm was not activated until after the police had been informed by neighbours.

 

Just my theory.

 

 

Not sure having physical security would help... its time that matters.

 

But an easy mitigation could be a configuration of AA battery powered sensors, with wifi to a base station that has a 3G signal to automatically dial an alert out would do it. Some of these also offer web cameras that record to the cloud, and thus give evidence. Being wireless you can hide the sensors anywhere.

less than £500 and a few hours to set up, others are even cheaper. They last for years.

 

Edited by adb968008
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For what it's worth, if I recall correctly, it cost us something like £500 per day for security staff to patrol the car parks at our bigger shows. However it must be said there are some very variable characters working in 'security', we had cause to complain to their manager on more than one occasion.

As another aside in response to the suggestion about cameras, my son has just finished fitting 4 at our house. A DIY kit of 4 cameras, with day colour and nighttime black and white complete with a 1Tb recorder cost him about £88!

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4 hours ago, Chrisr40 said:

 If there is a positive from the perpetrators side it is that they are suitably ashamed,  their families have the hump and it will be an interesting/career limiting note on these kids CV

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7059229/Mother-teenage-yob-smashed-model-railway-exhibition-says-mortified.html

 

Call me cynical but this could be the start of their case for clemency.  Hope the judge is not easily fooled.

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59 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

 

Possibly, but let's leave this to the judge. For a start, ranting campaigns on social media can be used by defence lawyers. Let's keep out of it and not give them any ammunition.

 

I agree.

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It's worth remembering that Alarm Systems do very little to prevent such damage; they may act as a deterrent if it's obvious that the building is fitted with an alarm, or they may scare off intruders if there is an audible siren etc.  What they do is to (hopefully) enable Police, Neighbours etc. to act quickly and help minimise loss/damage and to catch the intruders.  The best security is physical security, i.e. make the building so secure that it's nigh on impossible to break into in the first place.

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Have been away so only caught up on this topic, made me shiver, terrible, lets hope a one time incident, as a former exhibition manager and still regular exhibitor it makes you think but lets keep it in perspective, when the Chatham Show was in the dockyard covered slip  we were aware of security issues, I work in the security industry so was able to access reliable (most are) SIA licensed staff happy to work a couple of ad hoc night shifts, at £10 an hour self employed.

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6 hours ago, adb968008 said:

 

Not sure having physical security would help... its time that matters.

 

 

 

 

But would they have broken into the school if they had seen a security person?

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5 hours ago, Colin_McLeod said:

 

Call me cynical but this could be the start of their case for clemency.  Hope the judge is not easily fooled.

 

I was as distressed as most of us when I heard what had happened on Saturday, and for most of this week I would quite happily have joined the 'hang 'em and flog 'em' brigade.

 

However no amount of 'punishment' will being back the ruined models, and it seems the perpetrators may have now learnt their lesson.

 

Maybe the more pragmatic approach would be for the clubs concerned to invite the perpetrators to assist with the rebuilding/replacement work, teaching them new skills as they go. If they show an eagerness to help put right - if only in a small way - what they have done, then it would perhaps be in order for the clubs to ask that whatever sentence would have been handed down to be suspended (i.e. not to be enacted unless they do something similar again).

 

If,as a result, some of these young men decide to take up this wonderful hobby, that would to my mind be a far better outcome than a custodial sentence.

 

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